Hello,
as announced earlier during the lenny dev cycle, I would like to switch to
the new source package formats ("3.0 (quilt)" and "3.0 (native)") during
the squeeze cycle so that we can benefit from the numerous improvements.
For this kind of important change, it's best to start early in the release
cycle.
Lenny's dpkg has all the support for the new source formats so in theory
we can start using new formats in squeeze except that dak doesn't support
them. After discussions with ftpmaster, and given their workload, I prepared
a set of patches (http://lists.debian.org/debian-dak/2009/03/msg00009.html).
I hope that Joerg will have time to review and test them soon. And
hopefully, they will quickly be in a state where they can be merged and
deployed on ftp-master.d.o. The associated bug report is
http://bugs.debian.org/457345
My goal is not only to accept them on ftp-master but also to update
dpkg-source to build new source package automatically. That's why I
rebuilt the archives to see what packages would not build with the
new format (without fixes). The failures are tracked here:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?users=hertzog@debian.org;tag=3.0-quilt-by-default
I will do (thanks to Lucas Nussbaum) another archive rebuild in the
upcoming weeks to see if we have new failures. Hopefully the release team
can grant the status of release goal to this project so that we can more
easily NMU the remaining packages.
All in all, things are in a rather good shape but I still need some help.
While I tested extensively the dpkg-source side, we still need to ensure
that all our additional tools cope well with the new source package
format (*-buildpackage, apt-get source, lintian, devscripts, dput/dupload,
etc.). I know several tools in devscripts have already been fixed/enhanced
in that regard. Please try using new source packages with all those tools
(in particular if you maintain them) and file bugs if you encounter
problems and usertag them appropriately (user hertzog@debian.org /
tag 3.0-quilt-by-default).
To create a new source package, simply take an existing package and
rebuild it after having put "3.0 (quilt)" or "3.0 (native)" in
the file debian/source/format (see dpkg-source(1) for more information).
Cheers,
--
Raphaël Hertzog
Contribuez à Debian et gagnez un cahier de l'admin Debian Lenny :
http://www.ouaza.com/wp/2009/03/02/contribuer-a-debian-gagner-un-livre/